The Shot

Earlier this evening as I was changing Ava into her pajamas I gave her legs a little squeeze. She looked at me and said "big shot". To fill you in, one day last week she got her seasonal flu shot. There we were, in the doctor's office. I was talking to the nurse for a few moments and the word "shot" came up I don't know how many times in our conversation. Well up until that point the only time she heard "shot" was when someone called her a "big shot baby". So to her it was something funny. Well everything changed once she got the vaccination. As you can imagine, she was NOT happy. Later that same day as I was changing her diaper her fingers found the band-aid on her thigh. She looked up at me and said "big shot baby". The poor thing!!! It took me a moment to realize how she connected the two. It is amazing how "in the moment" babies are and what they pick up on. It never even occurred to me.

Ahhhh innocence.

She has become quite the little observer. I fear it is only a matter of time before she drops her first string of swear words. As it is now she is like a sportscaster narrating my every move in the car. I sneeze and moments later I can bet money I will her say "sneeze" from the back seat. Same for cough and phone call. All the signs are there for her to become my conscience. I am waiting for the day she says "are you sure you want to eat that second doughnut?"

Stay tuned. Tomorrow will be lesson 3 in an 8 part swimming lesson series I signed her up for at our local YMCA. It is a love-hate relationship at the moment but I have seen some encouraging signs. Take the picture posted below for example. During her first lesson she pretty much cried through the whole thing. We muddled through the blowing of bubbles and kicking but I didn't think she got a thing out of it. Then, on a walk a couple of days later she laid down on the ground and started saying "swim! swim!" As usual it took me a moment to figure out what the heck she was talking out. We really didn't get very far but at least we got some fresh air. Luckily I had bought a cup of coffee before heading out on our walk so I was more open to the kind of spontaneity she had in mind.